A Minneapolis police officer walks past a UPS truck at the scene of a business in which a gunman shot several people Thursday, killing four, and then turning the gun on himself, in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of Minneapolis, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012. A UPS driver was among one of the four killed before the gunman turned the gun on himself. (AP Photo/Craig Lassig)

After being fired for chronic tardiness and poor performance, Andrew Engeldinger used a legally purchased 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistol to kill five people and injure three before turning the weapon on himself at the Minneapolis sign company where he worked.

Minneapolis police on Monday, Oct. 1, released a timeline of the events that unfolded in the estimated 15 minutes that Engeldinger, 36, spent targeting employees and a UPS driver at Accent Signage Systems. The rampage in the city’s Bryn Mawr neighborhood is being called the deadliest episode of workplace violence in Minnesota history.

It began late Thursday afternoon when Accent Signage operations director John Souter called Engeldinger into his office. Before attending the meeting, Engeldinger, who had been reprimanded in writing a week earlier, went to his car, apparently to retrieve his handgun.

In the meeting, Souter and fellow top manager Rami Cooks told Engeldinger he was fired. Souter handed Engeldinger a final paycheck.

Then, Engeldinger pulled out his gun.

A struggle over the weapon ensued, and Souter and Cooks, 62, were shot. Cooks died Friday at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, while Souter remains there in serious condition.

Engeldinger then picked up a partially loaded magazine he had dropped in the struggle, reloaded and stepped outside Souter’s office. He began to move through the building, apparently picking some employees as his victims and ignoring others.

“He did walk by people,” Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said Friday. “Especially in the office area, to get to certain other members of the office.”

The killings occurred in “three distinct areas” — the executive offices/display area, the loading dock and the production floor, Dolan said during an interview with radio station WCCO-AM.

“People in those areas didn’t have an idea what was going on outside of (their) areas until it was right in front of them,” Dolan said.

Reuven Rahamim, 61, founder of Accent Signage Systems, was shot when he stepped out of his office, which was next to Souter’s. He died at the scene.

Gun in hand, Engeldinger left the executive offices through double-doors and entered a sign display area. There, he shot and killed employee Jacob Beneke, 34, of Maple Grove.

He then stepped through another pair of doors to the loading dock area, where he shot and killed employee Ronald Edberg, 58, of Brooklyn Center. Also in the area was UPS driver Keith Basinski, 50, of Spring Lake Park. He was gunned down as he stood in his truck.

On the production floor, Engeldinger shot production manager Eric Rivers. He remained in critical condition Monday at HCMC.

Another victim identified by police only as “BW” was grazed by a bullet on the production floor. He was treated at the hospital and released.

Engeldinger then went to the basement, where he fatally shot himself in the head. Police found his body and the pistol there.

Family members said Engeldinger had recently suffered from mental illness and was estranged from most of his relatives.

Upon searching his home in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, police found another loaded Glock 9mm handgun, Glock magazines, ankle holsters, gun cases, targets, gun-cleaning supplies, permit to carry application materials, a certification of completion for concealed carry training and packaging for about 10,000 rounds of ammunition.

Engeldinger had practiced shooting at the Burnsville Rifle & Pistol Range. The law does not allow the release of permit to carry information on individuals.

Police said there was no evidence that Engeldinger had a history of making threats at Accent Signage.

His only contact with Minneapolis police was in three property crime cases from 2005 to 2011 in which he was listed as the victim.

Joseph Lindberg joined the Pioneer Press in 2012 as a breaking news reporter covering everything from horrific crime to the arrival of big (really, really big) airplanes and the availability of Prince tickets. He's now a web editor obsessed with delivering quality digital content to readers and developing digital strategy that grows audiences.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

In Mears Park, the holiday luminescence has lost some luster. The twinkle has tapered. The shine has dimmed. On a chilly Monday evening, Jacob Moore and his rat terrier, Tucker, wandered through downtown St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood, where they were underwhelmed by the holiday light display. The bars were busy, but the trees inside Mears Park were bare, though lights...

The River City Sculpture Tour, which this year brought a moose, giant dragonfly and chokecherry tree to downtown Stillwater, has been such a success that the organizer is planning to make it bigger and better in 2017. Artist and tour founder Julie Pangallo said Tuesday that she plans to expand the to downtown Bayport. “The tour has been phenomenally well-received,” Pangallo...

A 60-year-old Faribault man was killed Thursday evening when his car collided with a semitrailer in Rice County. The Minnesota State Patrol reported that Randy J. Hansen was driving a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am southbound on Highway 21 and making a left turn to continue eastbound on 21 shortly after 5:30 p.m. when his car collided with a semi going...

Transit for Liveable Communities and St. Paul Smart Trips are merging Jan. 1 to create a new nonprofit organization to promote buses, trains, bikes, car sharing, walking and other alternatives to putting more cars on the road.

DULUTH, Minn. — A Roanoke, Va., multimillionaire who made his fortune in health care and has recently purchased coal mines wants to buy the bankrupt Magnetation LLC operations on Minnesota’s Iron Range and put laid-off employees back to work. That’s the plan of Tom Clarke, owner of ERP Compliant Fuels and now ERP Iron Ore, who has brokered a deal...

Renaldo Terez McDaniel was looking under the hood of his car outside a St. Paul auto-parts store on a summer evening last June when three shots were fired. One hit the 31-year-old McDaniel in the shoulder, another pierced his stomach. The third struck his head.